Membangun Kekuatan Spiritual

MEMBANGUNKAN KEKUATAN SPIRITUAL

Spritualiti dalam diri seseorang Muslim adalah perasaan tunduk dan tawadhuk kepada Allah Sang Pencipta; pada kekuasaan dan ilmuNya yang muncul lantaran kesedarannya terhadap hubungannya dengan Nya.

Spiritualiti yang meningkat akan menjadikan seorang muslim sentiasa hidup dalam suasana iman.Dia pun akan semakin tegas dan istiqomah dalm sikap dan langkah hidupnya.Dia akan semakin terikat dengan syariat Allah swt dengan perasaan redha dan tenteram.Perasaan redha dan tenteram dengan syariat Allah swt, itu akan menjadikannya kuat dalam menghadapi segala persoalan hidup.

Dikisahkan bahawa ketika mendengar khabar tentang kedatangan pasukan Quraisy yang jumlahnya cukup besar sedang menuju di Badar dengan memberikan pukulan yang mematikan terhadap Muhammad dan kawan-kawannya, Rasulullah saw sebagai kepala Negara sekaligus panglima perang, bermusyawarah dengan para sahabatnya dari kalangan Muhajirin dan Anshar. Rasulullah saw bersabda kepada mereka, “Makkah telah melontarkan bahagian besar kekuatannya.”

Rasulullah pun bersabda, “Bagaimana pendapat kalian?”

Saad bin Muadz ra salah seorang pemimpin Ashar mengatakan, “ Kami bukanlah orang-orang Yahudi yang mengatakan kepada Musa, ‘ Pergilah engkau bersama Tuhanmu berperang, sementara kami tinggal di sini! ’ Namun kami adalah orang yang mengatakan, ‘Pergilah Anda bersama Tuhan Anda berperang dan kami akan berangkat menyertai anda berdua…!’ Oleh itu, sekalipun engkau berjalan memerangi musuh ke Barkul Ghumud (suatu daerah di Yaman) , pasti kami akan menyertaimu, wahai Rasulullah !”

Rasulullah saw pun gembira dengan pernyataan yang menunjukkan keberanian dan semanagat tempur yang tinggi. Dalam pertempuran itu kaum muslim menang dan berhasil membunuh 70 orang Quraisy termasuk tokoh-tokohnya seperti Abu Jahal, Umayyah, Utbah, dan Syaibah bin Rabiah, serta menawan 70 lainnya. (lihat : Ibnu Katsir, Al BIdayah wa an-Nihayah, 3/14-15)

Itulah kekuatan yang muncul lantaran kesedaran akan hubungan dengan Allah swt. Hal ini juga tampak pada kesungguhan kaum muslim di dalam Perang Mu’tah yang jumlahnya cuma 3000 orang ketika bertempur melawan 200 000 pasukan Romawi dan gabungan pasukan Arab di daerah Utara.Tiga orang Panglima yang diutus Rasulullah saw pada saat itu , Jenderal Zaid bin Haritsah, Jenderal Ja’far bin Abi Talib, dan Jenderal Abdullah bin Rawahah gugur sebagai syuhada setelah bertempur dengan kekuatan yang luar biasa . Salah seorang di antara ketiga panglima itu, Jenderal Abdullah bin Rawahah memberikan dorongan yang menghasilkan kekuatan Spiritual yang sungguh luar biasa. Sebab sebelumnya terjadi musyawarah untuk mengambil langkah yang tepat , mengingat kekuatan yang dihadapi kaum muslim sangat besar sekali. Abdullah bin Rawahah mengharapkan agar pasukan tidak berundur dan meminta bantuan pasukan kepada Rasulullah. Dia berkata, “Wahai kaum muslim, sesungguhnya yang paling kami sukai pada saat kalian keluar(dari benteng/kota Madinah untuk berjihad) adalah kalian mencari syahadah (mati syahid), kita tidak memerangi manusia dengan jumlah personal, juga tidak memerangi mereka dengan kekuatan dan banyaknya pasukan yang kita miliki, kita tidak memerangi mereka melainkan denagn agama yang dengannya Allah telah memuliakan kita. Kerana itu , berangkatlah . Sesungguhnya hasil dari perang ini hanyalah satu diantara kebaiakn : Menang atau mati syahid !” ( Lihat : Ibnu Katsir, Al bidayah wa an Nihayah, III/428)

Spiritualiti seorang Muslim menghasilkan rasa takut kepada Allah ( khasyiatullah). Rasa takut kepada Allah swt, itu menjadikannya memiliki kekuatan dan ketegaran yang luar biasa. Ketika kaum muslim dikepung dalam Perang Ahzab, orang-orang munafik cuba menakut-nakuti mereka. Namun, kaum Muslim tidak gentar sama sekali.

Para ulama yang benar-benar konsisten dengan ilmu yang mereka miliki adalah orang yang takut kepada Allah. Khasyitullah yang mereka miliki itu membuat mereka memiliki kekuatan spiritual sehingga berani dan merasa ringan menyampaikan nasihat kebenaran kepada para penguasa.

Suatu ketika salah seorang murid seorang ulama besar Al-Izz bin Abdus Salam bertanya kepada gurunya tatkala gurunya menasihati seorang penguasa, “ Wahai guru, apakah Anda tidak takut kepadanya?” Al-Izz menjawab, “Demi Allah, wahai anakku, sungguh aku telah menghadirkan kewibawaan Allah swt, dalam diriku sehingga penguasa(sultan) itu dihadapanku seperti seekor kucing.” (Lihat: Fauzi Sanqarith, Taqarrub ila Allah)

Kekuatan spiritual bukanlah mistik atau kesaktian yang muncul kerana membaca zikir-zikir tertentu. Bukan itu, kekuatan itu muncul lantaran keyakinan akan takdir allah, keyakinan akan ajal, sikap tawakal yang benar, dan keyakinan bahwa Allah swt pasti akan menolong orang-orang Mukmin ( Lihat : QS Ar Rum : 47)

Keyakinan akan mendapatkan pertolongan dan perlindungan Allah swt akan tertanam dalam diri seorang muslim manakala dia dekat denganNya. Bagaimana caranya?

Dalam sebuah hadis qudsi Rasulullah saw bersabda : Sesungguhnya Allah telah berfirman :

Siapa yang memusuhi Kekasihku (waliku) maka Aku akan menyatakan perang kepadanya.Tidaklah mendekat kepadaKu seorang hambaKu dengan sesuatu yang lebih Kusukai daripada dia menjalankan kewajipan yang telah Kufardhukan .Tidak henti-hentinya seorang hambaKu mendekat kepadaKu dengan melakukan amalan-amalan sunnah hingga Aku menyukainya . Bila Aku telah suka kepadanya, maka Akulah yang akan menjadi pendengarannya, penglihatannya dan tangannya yang digunakan , dan menjadi kaki yang dijalankannya.Apabila dia memohon kepadaKu pasti Kukabulkan, dan jika dia berlindung kepadaKu pasti Kulindungi.
(HR Al Bukhari.Lihat : Imam An Nawawi, Riyadh Ash Shalihin Bab Mujahadah)

Kalau kesedaran spiritual kaum Muslim telah mencapai taraf itu, InsyaAllah kaum Muslim memiliki kekuatan tiada tandingan.

Character Building in Islam

Character Building in Islam


Ethics, Morality and Character: Moral System in Islam
By III&E

Islam has laid down some universal fundamental rights for humanity as a whole, which are to be observed and respected under all circumstances. To achieve these rights, Islam provides not only legal safeguards, but also a very effective moral system. Thus, whatever leads to the welfare of the individual or the society is morally good in Islam and whatever is injurious is morally bad. Islam attaches so much importance to the love of God and love of man that it warns against too much formalism. We read in the Qur'an:

It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards the East or West; but it is righteousness to believe in God and the Last Day and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the freeing of captives; to be steadfast in prayers, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which you made; and to be firm and patient in pain and adversity and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-conscious. (2:177)

We are given a beautiful description of the righteous and God-conscious man in these verses. He should obey salutary regulations, but he should fix his gaze on the love of God and the love of his fellow-men.

We are given four directions:

a) Our faith should be true and sincere,

b) We must be prepared to show it in deeds of charity to our fellow-men,

c) We must be good citizens, supporting social organizations, and

d) Our own individual soul must be firm and unshaken in all circumstances.

This is the standard by which a particular mode of conduct is judged and classified as good or bad. This standard of dudgement provides the nucleus around which the whole moral conduct should revolve. Before laying down any moral injunctions, Islam seeks to firmly implant in man's heart the conviction that his dealings are with God, who sees him at all times and in all places; that he may hide himself form the whole world, but not from Him; that he may deceive everyone but cannot deceive God; that he can flee from the clutches of anyone else, but not from God's.

Thus, by setting god's pleasure as the objective of man's life, Islam has furnished the highest possible standard of morality. This is bound to provide limitless avenues for the moral evolution of humanity. By making Divine revelations as the primary source of knowledge, it gives permanence and stability to the moral standards which afford reasonable scope for genuine adjustments, adaptations and innovations though not for perversions, wild variation, atomistic relativism or moral fluidity. It provides a sanction to morality in the love and fear of God, which will impel man to obey the moral law even without any external pressure. Though belief in God and the Day of Judgement, it furnishes a force which enables a person to adopt the moral conduct with earnestness and sincerity, with all the devotion of heart and soul.

It does not, through a false sense of originality and innovation, provide any novel moral virtues, nor does it seek to minimize the importance of the will-know moral norms, nor does it give exaggerated importance to some and neglect others without cause. It takes up all the commonly known moral virtues and with a sense of balance and proportion it assigns a suitable place and function to each one of them in the total scheme of life. It widens the scope of man's individual and collective life - his domestic associations, his civic conduct, and his activities in the political, economic, legal, educational, and social realms. It covers his life from home to society, from the dining-table to the battle-field and peace conferences, literally from the cradle to the grave. In short, no sphere of life is exempt from the universal and comprehensive application of the moral principles of Islam. It makes morality reigh supreme and ensures that the affairs of life, instead of dominated by selfish desires and petty interests, should be regulated by norms of morality.

It stipulates for man a system of life that is based on all good and is free from all evil. It encourages the people, not only to practice virtue, but also to establish virtue and eradicate vice, to bid good and to forbid wring. It wants that their verdict of conscience should prevail and virtue must be subdued to play second fiddle to evil. Those who not respond to this call are gathered together into a community and given the name Muslim. And the singular object underlying the formation of this community (Ummah) is that it should make an organized effort to establish and enforce goodness and suppress and eradicate evil.

Here we furnish some basic moral teachings of Islam for various aspects of a Muslim's life. They cover the broad spectrum of personal moral conduct of a Muslim as well as his social responsibilities.

God-Consciousness

The Qur'an mentions this as the highest quality of a Muslim:

The most honorable among you in the sight of God is the one who is most God-conscious. (49:13)

Humility, modesty, control of passions and desires, truthfulness, integrity, patience, steadfastness, and fulfilling one's promises are moral values that are emphasized again and again in the Qur'an:

And God loves those who are firm and steadfast. (3:146)

And vie with one another to attain to your Sustainer's forgiveness and to a Paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, which awaits the God-conscious, who spend for charity in time of plenty and in time of hardship, and restrain their anger, and pardon their fellow men, for God loves those who do good. (3:133-134)

Establish regular prayer, enjoin what is just, and forbid what is wrong; and bear patiently whatever may befall you; for this is true constancy. And do not swell your cheek (with pride) at men, nor walk in insolence on the earth, for God does not love any man proud and boastful. And be moderate in your pace and lower your voice; for the harshest of sounds, indeed, is the braying of the ass. (31:18-19)

In a way which summarizes the moral behavior of a Muslim, the Prophet (PBUH) said:

My Sustainer has given me nine commands: to remain conscious of God, whether in private or public; to speak justly, whether angry or pleased; to show moderation both when poor and when rich; to reunite friendship with those who have broken off with me; to give to him who refuses me; that my silence should be occupied with thought; that my looking should be an admonition; and that I should command what is right.

Social Responsibility

The teachings of Islam concerning social responsibilities are based on kindness and consideration of others. Since a broad injunction to be kind is likely to be ignored in specific situations, Islam lays emphasis on specific acts of kindness and defines the responsibilities and rights within various relationships. In a widening circle of relationship, then, our first obligation is to our immediate family - parents, spouse, and children - and then to other relatives, neighbors, friends and acquaintances, orphans and widows, the needy of the community, our fellow Muslims, all fellow human beings, and animals.

Parents

Respect and care for parents is very much stressed in the Islamic teaching and is a very important part of a Muslim's expression of faith.

Your Sustainer has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be kind to your parents. whether one or both of them attain old age in your life time, do not say to them a word of contempt nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor. And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility and say: My Sustainer! Bestow on them Your mercy, even as they cherished me in childhood. (17:23-24)

Other Relatives

And render to the relatives their due rights, as (also) to those in need, and to the traveler; and do not squander your wealth in the manner of a spendthrift.

Neighbors

The Prophet (PBUH) has said:

He is not a believer who eats his fill when his neighbor beside him is hungry.

He does not believe whose neighbors are not safe from his injurious conduct.

Actually, according to the Qur'an and Sunnah, a Muslim has to discharge his moral responsibility not only to his parents, relatives and neighbors, but to the entire mankind, animals and trees and plants. For example, hunting of birds and animals for the sake of game is not permitted. Similarly, cutting down trees and plants which yield fruit is forbidden unless there is a pressing need for it.

Thus, on the basic moral characteristics, Islam builds a higher system of morality by virtue of which mankind can realize its greatest potential. Islam purifies the soul from self-seeking egotism, tyranny, wantonness and indiscipline. It creates God-conscious men, devoted to their ideals, possessed of piety, abstinence, discipline and uncompromising with falsehood. It induces feelings of moral responsibility and fosters the capacity for self-control. Islam generates kindness, generosity, mercy, sympathy, peace, disinterested goodwill, scrupulous fairness and truthfulness towards all creation in all situations. It nourishes noble qualities from which only good may be expected

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